'One Dish' from Newton's Blue Ribbon Barbecue

Friday

May 9, 2014 at 8:41 PMMay 9, 2014 at 9:11 PM

By Jerome Chongnewton@wickedlocal.com

Robert Perez, chef of Blue Ribbon Barbecue Inc., said North Carolina pulled pork is the most popular dish among its customers in West Newton.The pulled pork comes with homemade coleslaw, baked beans, and a cube of corn bread.The restaurant is located at 1375 Washington St. in West Newton and at 908 Massachusetts Ave. in Arlington.Blue Ribbon’s pulled pork wouldn’t match up to others if the restaurant didn’t use its signature North Carolina sweet sauce, Perez said.The recipe for the special sauce is kept secret, Perez said. The owners of the sauce don’t even tell the employees what’s in it. Blue Ribbon adds the sauce to just about every meat-based entrée it serves, Perez said.You can buy the sauce at a Whole Foods store or get it at Blue Ribbon.Perez has been employed at Blue Ribbon Barbecue for about three years. He began there as a cashier.To prepare the pulled pork, Perez smokes pork shoulder for about 14 hours and, after that process, the park get pulled apart by hand."Then we add the vinegar sauce and cook it here in the store." Perez said.That process runs from the morning until night.The dish doesn’t only get served as a dinner platter. It also comes in a variety of different styles, including sandwiches and salads."Everything is in-house-made. Nothing is from the outside," Perez said. "I guess that’s what kind of separates us from everyone else."The restaurant has customers from as far away as New Hampshire, Connecticut and Maine.Blue Ribbon "does a lot of catering as well," Perez said. "You can call in and order for as many people as you want."Blue Ribbon Barbecue is open at 11 every morning and closes at 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 p.m. Sundays.The North Carolina pulled pork dinner platter costs $11.99.